good mental health
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New hearing aids and new perceptions
This week my new hearing aids came in! Besides the new aids I got kisses from Gus the Labrador! The hearing aid fitting went very well and I’m amazed at how good I hear with the new aids! As per directions I’m keeping a journal about my adjustment to my new perceptions. Did you know…
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Odditerrarium and the week
The week started with a whoosh! Vintage Books asked for more copies of Dr Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit and asked me to sign them!! Of course I did a drawing too because I’m me and that’s what I do – in these copies I did a small self portrait. These can be…
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Cogitation, re-wilding ourselves and banned books
I think a lot about thinking. So do cats I think. Here’s another painting in my Odditerrarium series for upcoming exhibit at Caplan Art Designs in October. My painting is titled “Cognition”. Sometimes it seems like brains are fish bowls with thoughts swimming about. Here’s the sketchbook page that began my Odditerrarium series. Besides forming…
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Quilts, love and the importance of stories
This week a box came from my sister that held a quilt our Mom was adamant that I have. Opening the box transported me instantly to my adopted Mom and Dad’s house. Love smells like old books, coffee, flowers, swimming pool chlorine, Mom’s soap and cleaning products, wine, champagne, cigars and cigarettes. Here’s what the…
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Art supplies, art exhibits and self-care
In a prior post I wrote about sharing the correlation I see between art and mental health. Writing and drawing your thoughts and feelings can help you check in with yourself. It’s a way of caring about and listening to your innermost self. Beyond any therapeutic benefits a habit of writing and drawing is also…
A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art supplies, art techniques, Art Word Combinations, artistic inspirations, author illustrator, books, creative thinking, drawing as thinking, gift books, Gifts, greeting cards, life of the mind, mental health, miniature art, public art, reading, sketchbook, visual thinking, words and pictures -

Curiosity, cats, our minds and alphabets
I’ve been thinking this week about the role of curiosity in a creative life. So here’s a fun curiosity/creativity game I play with myself. To play you’ll need: any printed book with lots of visual images in it, 5 sticky post-it notes from a post-it note pad, a separate piece of paper and a pen or…
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Public art private art and pretending
I’ve been thinking lately of how important the ability to imagine is. What if “let’s pretend…” is one of the most useful skills to cultivate all of one’s life? Besides being lots of fun to do using your imagination is an essential mental health skill. I quote from this article “So when you choose to…
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The Arabian Nights, miniature art and studio equipment
This week was … there. Reading Marcus Aurelius helped. So did the oranges, the coffee, the leaves in the yard, the books and art. Talking with my spouse helped too. I kept returning to this quote from Marcus Aurelius so I did this gouache and ink painting. Then I added it to my “for encouragement”…
A Creative Life, art prints, art techniques, artistic inspirations, books, creative thinking, Creativity Chats, fine art, household surrealism, mental health, miniature art, publications – publishing, published art, sketchbook, small things, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures, Writing And Illustrating -

The last Professional dogs and The Arabian Nights
Drum roll please… here are the last pages from The Professional Dog. I finished the social media postings of this series on the very last day of 2021. How’s that for timing? Lol!! So you can see a closer view… and read the accompanying text 👇 Thank you for following my entire process as I…
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Professional dogs, box project, cards, chats, contrasting books and soup
I’m steadily progressing on my children’s book “The Professional Dog”. Here are three art pieces together so you can see how the colors flow from one piece to the next. This project will be both a book an art exhibit. So each piece needs to both work with the others and stand alone. My last post…
